Sunday, 18 September 2011

TC Matic in 1983: what's that guitar?

Can anybody identify the guitar played by Jean-Marie Aerts, the excellent guitarist of the excellent early 1980s Belgian band TC Matic? It looks like an archtop walnut Yamaha SG with the control plate of a Les Paul Recorder and I think that it might be a luthier's one-off (as is the bass of the bass player with its German carve) - what do you think?

Aerts was (and is) quite an unique guitar player, who could compare with Magazine/Banshees/PILJohn McGeoch when it came to reinvent guitar playing in the new wave era... Being Belgian (and singing in a bizarre mix of English, French and Flemish dialect), TC Matic never achieved the international fame they deserved, but they are told to have been quite influential on the then newly relocated Birthday Party (this is not obvious with this song, but it makes sense) and they are still highly valued in this strange part of Europe that is on the other side of the Channel...

Edit: It's a Greco-built Roland G-303 synth controller (thanx JD) - I always associated Roland's early controllers with the LP shaped G-500 but I should have known this one that has been used by renowned players such as Pat Metheny and Andy Summers. Since it is not only a synth controller but a good guitar, it has been often used without the GR-300 synth - the way Aerts does.